Headteacher used a biscuit in Maths and tried to feed our Coeliac daughter and when told not to, laughed about it

[RLBo]

Our daughter has Coeliac Disease - (the school is well aware of this as she is hyper sensitive). She had a 1:1 Maths lesson with the Headteacher who used a non gluten free biscuit to demonstrate fractions, the head teacher broke the biscuit apart and put it in our daughters face and said 'go on eat it, it's yours' pushing the biscuit towards her. Our daughter said 'no I can't eat it, it will make me ill' to which the headteacher laughed and said 'oh I will eat it then, yum yum yum' putting crumbs all over our daughter and the desk.

I was shocked at this behaviour and made a complaint. To which the reply was; the headteacher said she had forgotten that our daughter was Coeliac and that she wasn't wrong in doing this?

How would you respond? because in my eyes, it's once again a school brushing something that is serious under the carpet and dismissing it.

Interested to know your thoughts

These situations terrify me. My DD has multiple severe allergies and carries epi pens. She is younger than the OP's DD and, although she knows what her allergies are, I'm not sure she'd necessarily recognise them if they're an ingredient inside a biscuit (e.g. eggs and nuts can be hidden where you don't expect them). I tell her not to take food from others, but faced with a trusted teacher going "yum yum yum" I don't know for sure she would survive that kind of encounter.

good systems protect the teachers as much as the children this was a good point made upthread, good teachers don't want to take risks

DD has coeliac. She’s had it for many years now. Most people are great about it but there have been several adults over the years who have mocked her over her diet (including her food-tech teacher). Hopefully the headteacher didn’t mean for your dd to feel this way about what happened but the idea that it doesn’t ever happen isn’t true. Coeliac is a condition that gets ridiculed and it’s hard - especially for children who are already managing it on a day to day basis. Have a look on Facebook. There some really supportive groups where you will get good advice. Children with Coeliac Disease is a big group.

How awful to mock Coeliac, especially a teacher!! DD has a nut allergy, is 19 and had it since 5. MIL always likes to throw in the fact that nobody had allergies in her day. Sigh….

The teacher didn't "mock coeliac". The teacher forgot the child was coeliac, and should have been much more cautious about offering food, but unless you personally witnessed her reaction to the refusal you only have the child/mother's perception. It may have been the sort of nervous, embarassed laugh that is momentarily triggered when something unexpected happens.

@skewed she did mock her though, she said "yum yum" when eating it.

Kids with allergies & celiac miss out on so much. It's very insensitive to gloat about it like the teacher did.

My son has nut allergies and I would be furious. Staff should not be using food in lessons unless they are fully aware of allergies/cultural needs. Our school has a photo of each child in the school kitchen and inthe class room (out of sight of children) so it is easily checked.

I would ask to see the school's policy on allergies and then point out how the teacher disregarded it.

I wouldn't interpret that as mocking. She didn't remember the girl was coeliac. Foolish perhaps, but not mocking.

If the HT didn't belatedly remember the girl was coeliac when she said 'no I can't eat it, it will make me ill' then she's a fool. maybe her reaction was as a result of embarrassment for having cocked up but it was inappropriate. She could so easily have just said, 'oh, I'm sorry' and put (or thrown) it away. Doubling down and not apologising when the OP complained was foolish and unprofessional.

I had a similar issue when an asthma attack was missed (I know a bit off topic) and my son had to go into hospital. I spoke to the head about re education. I had a meeting with the school. Took in leaflets, provided websites, also gave them my sons asthma plan (again.)

They were really thankful as the event scared them. Maybe it would be worth suggesting a meeting to talk about celiac disease and the implications. You could provide the website links etc.

It would be very difficult for the school to remember every illness and I appreciate how difficult this is. I have allergies and illnesses in my family. They do wear medical alert bracelets so that's also an option.

I do agree the head should apologise but I also think from her perspective it sounds very lighthearted. I appreciate if your daughter had eaten the biscuit she could have been very unwell.

I hope that made sense and hope the school are on board and helpful.